Malasada Break
by Niki Bogwater
Summary: Gladion has been working too hard lately, and his girlfriend thinks it's high time he took a break. Shameless Gladimoon fluff.


_Bzzzt! Bzzzt! Bzzzt!_

Gladion glanced down at his phone, which was buzzing cheerfully and making quite a racket against the wood of his desk. Moon's photo flashed across the screen. He couldn't help the tiny grin that tugged at the corner of his mouth. Pushing his paperwork aside, he accepted the call and brought the phone up to his ear.

"Hey, babe!" her voice crooned on the other end.

"I told you not to call me that," he said, flushing brilliantly. She only giggled.

"Whatcha up to?" she asked, and judging by her tone of voice, he could guess she already knew.

"Paperwork. So unless this is important, I really need to get back to it."

"You've been doing paperwork for the past four days!" Moon whined. Gladion pinched the bridge of his nose. "You should take a break. Come get some malasada with me."

"Moon, I really don't have time for this," he groaned.

"You never have time for anything!" she pouted. "Especially me. I'm so bored and lonely and sad and-"

"Are you almost done?" he cut her off, unimpressed. He could hear her huff into the phone, and the sound brought another smile to his face. As much as he hated to admit it, Moon was very cute when she was pouting.

"I'm serious, Gladion. It's not healthy to work non-stop like this. I mean, I'd totally understand if you just didn't _want_ to hang out with me, and maybe this was your way of saying no nicely. I'd only be a little upset, but I'd be happy as long as you were-"

"Please stop," Gladion groaned. "You said you wouldn't pull any more guilt trips."

"Guilt trip?" Her voice sounded a little _too_ innocent. "I'm not tripping anything! I'm just saying that if you have some reason for not wanting to be with me, I'd totally-"

"I said _stop,_ " he warned, using his "Aether President Voice," as Moon liked to call it. She immediately fell silent, and didn't say anything for a long moment. Her silence quickly began to wear on his nerves, and he hurried to correct whatever mistake he had just made. "Moon? Hey, I didn't mean stop talking, I just meant-"

"Yeah, I know," she interrupted. "Sorry, that was low even for me. I'm just worried about you. You remember that one time when you worked yourself sick? Lillie was so worried about you she almost flew all the way back from Kanto. So I'm sorry if I'm bothering you. I'm just trying to take care of you." _As usual,_ he added silently. He sighed, glanced at his paperwork, then out the window at the setting sun. Come to think of it, he hadn't moved from his desk since after breakfast this morning, and he was starving. He heaved another sigh and stood up, grabbing his jacket from the back of his chair.

"Be at the Hau'oli Malasada Shop in twenty minutes. If you're late, I'm coming back to work."

"Okay!" she chirped, the sincerity of the minute before completely forgotten. "See you in a bit!" She blew a kiss into the phone and hung up before he could complain. He rolled his eyes and threw on his jacket. If he wasn't his own boss, he would have been fired by now. But Moon always had a way of getting what she wanted from him. And he supposed it probably was time for a break anyways.

"Come on, Silvally," he said to his Pokemon as he headed for the door. It jumped up from its bed in the corner and darted after him. Gladion returned it to its PokeBall before stepping outside and activating his Ride Pager. Charizard would get him there faster than the ferry, and he missed the feeling of wind in his hair. "Hau'oli City," he informed it as he buckled his helmet and swung into the saddle.

He would rather die than admit it, but his heart was already soaring higher than Charizard could ever fly.

* * *

Moon was already waiting for him in front of the shop when he got there. He turned the street corner and nearly toppled over as she crashed into him, throwing her arms around his neck. He steadied himself against the nearby building and awkwardly patted her back. Moon loved hugs just a little too much, in his opinion, and he could already feel sweat dripping down the back of his neck as random passersby gave them amused looks.

"Yeah...okay, that's enough..." he mumbled. "People are watching."

"Let them!" she chirped in his ear. "I'm just soooooo happy you're here!" He huffed and decided to just let her hug it out for now. There wasn't much he could do about it anyways, besides glare darkly at the people who were staring. With one final squeeze, she pressed a kiss to his cheek and pulled back, grabbing his hand and dragging him along behind her past the Malasada Shop.

"Hey, I thought we were going to eat," he complained as they turned another corner. She laughed and held up a large brown paper sack.

"I already took care of it!"

"Then where are we-" She skidded to a halt suddenly, and he almost tripped into her. He looked around to find that she had taken him to the Marina. His heart skipped a beat. Of course. She loved the Marina.

He let her lead him down to the end of the docks where the water lapped up against the concrete in a soothing melody. She kicked off her shoes and sat herself down at the very edge, letting her bare feet hang just above the water's surface. She patted the space beside her and stared up at him with her best Lillipup eyes. Realizing that this was going to take a lot longer than he had anticipated, Gladion let out a laborious sigh, took off his shoes, and sat down next to her with a soft grunt of mild irritation. She scooted up next to him so that she could lean on his shoulder and handed him the bag. His mouth watered as a warm aroma wafted up from within. He opened the bag, felt around inside, and let out another groan.

"Tell me you already ate yours," he grumbled, withdrawing his hand and staring at the offending item. She shook her head gleefully. "Great." He sighed, threw the bag to the side, and carefully unwrapped the Big Malasada. The delicious smell enveloped them in full force, and he came close to drooling. Unfortunately, there was still the matter of...

"D'you want me to hold it?" Moon asked.

"Do we have to?" he whined, ignoring her question. She stuck out her lip in a cute pout.

"This is our _thing_ Gladion! It's how we bond! Besides, you once told me that you didn't mind."

"That was because we were alone in my office at the Aether Foundation."

"We're basically alone here," she argued.

"Except for all the people who come and go to use the ferry," he pointed out.

"There's hardly anybody here. We only have to do it once, and then I promise, you can eat the whole thing by yourself. Please?" She bit her lip and fluttered her eyelashes. He glowered at her and muttered something under his breath. He released a sigh and finished unwrapping the malasada, laying it down on the palm of his hand. He held it up between the two of them, trying to maintain a disgruntled front, but failing as she gave him one of her winning smiles. Arceus, was there anything he _wouldn't_ do to see that smile? "Thanks, babe," she said softly. He muttered something unintelligible again, his cheeks burning.

"Let's just get this over with." They both leaned in at the same time and bit into opposite sides of the malasada, the filling oozing out as the fried exterior broke. Gladion felt Moon's nose brush his, and his face felt hotter than the malasada itself. Truth be told, it wasn't entirely unpleasant, but he wasn't about to admit that. They pulled apart afterwards, and Moon turned her face away to hide a blush of her own. Gladion would never understand why she always insisted on putting them through this dumb little ritual. It had all started because of one tiny accident on their first date, when they both tried to go for the same malasada. Ever since then, Moon had made it a point to share one big malasada with him whenever they went out, and she wouldn't stop pestering him until they both took the first bite together.

Moon beamed at him and reached up to brush some filling from his cheek. "Thank you," she said again.

"Hmph," he grunted, tearing another bite out of the malasada. "I still think it's ridiculous."

"Yeah, it is," Moon laughed, leaning against his shoulder. "But that's why I love it. And why I love you." She craned her neck to press a kiss to his cheek, her lips still warm from the malasada.

"Yeah, whatever..." he grumbled. "I love you too and all that junk."

For a long time afterwards, they sat in silence, watching the sun go down and the stars shine on the surface of the water. Gladion finished the malasada and set the wrapper aside, glancing down at Moon as he did. Her eyes were closed, but her lips were pursed like she was thinking about something. Probably Lillie. Coming to the Marina always reminded them both of her, and how much they missed her. She looked so comfortable and happy, though, there was no way he'd be able to escape from her now. Sighing in defeat, Gladion wound his arm around her waist and pulled her tighter against his side.

"I should've been back ages ago," he told her.

"Hmm," she replied. It was obvious she neither agreed with him nor cared. She opened her eyes and glanced up at him. "If I wasn't here, you'd work yourself into an early grave, and you know it."

"Whatever." He paused for a moment, swallowing hard. "Thanks...for making me...y'know...relax," he muttered. "If you didn't stop me, I'd probably become like my mother...Too wrapped up in my work to pay attention to anyone else or their Pokemon."

"I don't think so," Moon said softly. "You love too hard to become like that. And don't try to deny it!" She had felt him shift uncomfortably, like he was about to argue. "You're a very loving person at your core, and parading around like Mr. Edgelord will never change that. Also, you're not possessed by a freaky jelly monster."

He smiled again, a real smile, one he only let her see when they were alone together. It was definitely worth the cost of the malasada, she decided, just to see him happy like this. And she would buy him a million malasadas more if it meant he would keep smiling forever.

* * *

 **A/N: So this is more of a guilty pleasure than a well-thought-out and expertly crafted work of art...*sweatdrops* I don't know why, but I've been a huge GladiMoon sucker since day one, so I felt like this was something I at least had to _try_. In all honesty, I wrote this more for my own enjoyment than anything else, and therefore expect it to undergo some revision in the days to come. But here it is, in all it's fluffy majesty, and if anyone else likes it besides me, well, that'll be fantastic. **

**Ciao!**

 **-NikiBogwater**


End file.
